(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, will face lawmakers Wednesday for a hearing about the potential harms of social media use for young people.
The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security will convene the hearing at 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and it will mark the first time Mosseri has testified before Congress.
“After bombshell reports about Instagram’s toxic impacts, we want to hear straight from the company’s leadership why it uses powerful algorithms that push poisonous content to children, driving them down rabbit holes to dark places, and what it will do to make its platform safer,” subcommittee Chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement.
“I appreciate Mr. Mosseri voluntarily coming to the subcommittee and hope that he will support specific legislative reforms and solutions, particularly in its immensely potent algorithms,” Blumenthal added. “My conversations with parents have deeply moved me to fight for such reforms and demand answers that the whole nation is seeking.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the subcommittee, added, “Instagram’s repeated failures to protect children’s privacy have already been exposed before the U.S. Senate.”
“Now, it is time for action,” Blackburn said. “I look forward to discussing tangible solutions to improve safety and data security for our children and grandchildren.”
The hearing comes amid mounting controversies for Instagram and its parent company, Meta, after a whistleblower alleged blatant disregard from company executives over the potential harms of the social media platform for young users. Documents leaked to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year by whistleblower Frances Haugen cited the company’s own internal research that reportedly said Instagram made body image worse for one in three teenage girls.
On Tuesday, just ahead of the hearing, Mosseri announced a slew of updates to Instagram that aim to protect teens and young users on the app. Among them is the “Take a Break” feature — which encourages young users to take a break from Instagram if they have spent a long time scrolling — and a hub of tools for parents and guardians set to roll out early next year.
In late September, Instagram announced plans to pause development of its “Instagram Kids” platform meant for children under the age of 13 in the wake of the Wall Street Journal investigation.
“While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project,” Mosseri said in a statement at the time. “This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators to listen to their concerns and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today.”
Wednesday’s hearing is the fifth in a series led by Blackburn and Blumenthal specifically related to social media companies and the potential dangers children face online. The hearing will be live-streamed on the Senate commerce committee’s website.
(UNITED KINGDOM) — Members of Britain’s royal family got into the holiday spirit Wednesday, attending a Christmas carol service.
Prince William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, were front and center at the service at Westminster Abbey, where the couple wed 10 years ago.
They were joined by William’s cousins Zara Tindall, who attended with her husband, Mike, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
William’s aunt, Sophie Wessex, also attended, as did members of Kate’s family, the Middletons.
The service, “Together At Christmas,” was hosted by Duchess Kate, who chose for the occasion a festive red outfit by Catherine Walker and earrings borrowed from Queen Elizabeth.
In addition to celebrating the Christmas spirit, the service also celebrated the work of “of individuals and organizations across the U.K. who have supported their communities through the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Kensington Palace.
Last year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, instead of attending an indoor carol service, the queen and other members of the royal family stood socially distanced outside of Windsor Castle as they listened to a Christmas concert.
This Christmas will be the family’s first without Prince Philip, who died at age 99 in April.
In past years, he and Elizabeth, who were married for 73 years, oversaw the family’s multi-day Christmas celebration at Sandringham.
Buckingham Palace has not yet announced where the queen will spend this Christmas and whether she will be joined by any members of the royal family.
The family traditionally holds their gift exchange on Christmas Eve, following the German tradition, where they often swap funny or homemade gifts.
On Christmas Day, they walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church for the Christmas service.
After the service, the royals enjoy a Christmas lunch at Sandringham and then gather to watch Queen Elizabeth II deliver her annual Christmas message.
In the evening, the royal family will get together again for a Christmas buffet dinner with 15 to 20 different delicacies prepared by the queen’s chef.
On the day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day in the U.K., the royals traditionally partake in a pheasant shoot on the grounds of Sandringham.
(ALABAMA) — Forty-five years after an Auburn University student vanished on his way to school, his car — and possibly his remains — have been recovered.
Kyle Clinkscales and his white 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout went missing on Jan. 27, 1976, when Clinkscales was on his way from LaGrange, Georgia, to Auburn University, about 45 miles away, said James Woodruff, the sheriff of Troup County, Georgia.
The 22-year-old never returned to school and his parents filed a missing persons report, Woodruff said.
The sheriff’s office has searched for Clinkscales and his car for 45 years, following hundreds of leads, though nothing substantial ever developed, Woodruff said.
On Tuesday, a man called 911 when he spotted the car in a creek in Chambers County, Alabama, Woodruff said at a news conference Wednesday.
Apparent human bones were found in the car, Woodruff said. The bones have not yet been identified, he noted, adding that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is examining them.
Clinkscales’ ID and credit cards were found in a wallet in the car, Woodruff said.
The creek runs under a well-traveled road, officials said. The car was about three miles from the interstate Clinkscales would have taken to school, officials said.
Police said they don’t know what the 911 caller was doing by the creek, adding that his contact information has been provided to investigators.
The sheriff said he hopes the remains will help determine if this was foul play or a car crash.
Clinkscales’ father died in 2007 and his mother died in January of this year, Woodruff said. While the sheriff said he wished Clinkscales’ mother was alive to see this development, “just the fact that we have hopefully found him and the car brings me a big sigh of relief.”
Blake Shelton continued his reign at the People’s Choice Awards on Tuesday night, dominating the country category for a sixth year running.
The singer started that hot streak back in 2016, when he won Favorite Male Country Artist, keeping his hold on that category until the male and female divisions were consolidated in 2018 and continuing to win the Country Artist title through 2021.
This year, Blake also performed on the show, taking the stage for a rendition of his current single, “Come Back as a Country Boy.”
In his acceptance speech, Blake thanked his fans, emphasizing how much it meant to him to take home an award determined by listeners casting their votes. “I swear, the longer I go on the more I realize that all these awards shows, the fan-voted awards are the ones that mean the most to me,” the singer said.
Afterwards, he doubled down on that sentiment on Twitter. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again..best fans in the world!!!” Blake wrote. “This award means so much to me because it came from y’all.”
Dua Lipa‘s album, Future Nostalgia, and its singles dominated the charts in 2020, and this year, her song “Levitating” spent so many weeks in the upper reaches of the charts that it became the Billboard Hot 100 number-one song of 2021. So how about some new music from the British star? Well, it’s coming.
Dua tells Billboard with a laugh that she’s “maybe potentially actively working on some new music,” but insists that she can reveal “absolutely nothing” about it. Still, she admits, “I’m really excited. I feel so at home in the studio. There’s nowhere I would rather be.”
“So, during this time that I’ve been at home in London, it’s just been amazing to get in and write and experiment and try new things and it’s just been wonderful,” she continues. “And I’m very excited for new music, yeah.”
As for the success of “Levitating,” Dua notes, “Really, it’s the fans, and everybody that’s just been listening to it — and really just making it their own, so I’m really proud of that. I’ve always wanted my songs to find a home with different people so I’m happy that song did that, for sure.”
Dua’s other hit this year — her collaboration with Elton John, “Cold Heart” — was unexpected, but she thinks it was a success “because it’s just got a lot of love in it, and a lot of soul and spirit.” She adds, “I think sometimes when you hear a song like that, you can tell.”
GUATEMALA) — Ruben spent four years in Chile working as a housekeeper at a hotel and despite his experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, he was unable to get a higher paying job. Originally from Haiti, he said he was skipped over for promotions and paid higher rent than lighter-skinned immigrants.
After years of struggling financially, and with the pandemic affecting the tourism industry, he decided to migrate to Mexico, where he said he now faces the same Xenophobia he tried to flee. He’s been in Tapachula, Chiapas, for three months waiting to be interviewed for a humanitarian visa.
“The situation is very difficult for all migrants, not only Haitians, there is no hope here,” he told ABC News in an interview conducted in Spanish. “There are no jobs and they don’t want to give us our papers. All we want to do is leave Tapachula and be in another city while we have our cases processed.”
Ruben is among the tens of thousands of migrants whose asylum claim has seemingly ground to a halt as Mexico’s leading refugee agency deals with an unprecedented number of requests for humanitarian visas.
Human rights organizations warn that as they wait for their cases to be processed, migrants have become easy targets for price gouging and criminals who scam them with the promise of a way out of the city. As the Mexican government puts mounting pressure on migrants to keep them from continuing north out of the state of Chiapas, migrants said they have been forced to live in makeshift shelters in the streets and in overcrowded homes.
ABC News is not reporting Ruben’s real name in order to protect his privacy as he waits to see if he’ll be given protection under a humanitarian visa.
Tapachula is known as the main port of entry for refugees in Mexico as it borders Guatemala. Still, the number of asylum requests as of the end of November is unprecedented. According to COMAR, the Mexican government’s agency that processes refugee status, at least 123,187 requests have been filed so far in 2021, surpassing the record set in 2019 of over 70,000. The majority of those requests, 73%, were filed in the state of Chiapas. Haitians are the leading demographic in asylum requests in Mexico, the agency said.
Andrew Bahena, who works with the international programs team at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Chiapas, has been documenting instances of discrimination and violence targeted toward the migrant community. Migrants are relegated to renting rooms in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Those disparities are accentuated for migrants with darker skin tones like Haitians, the coalition said.
“If you’re a migrant and you’re just going to pay per person, there’s a certain stock of housing that you’re going to be living in, and it’s really hard to rent anywhere out of that once people understand that you’re a foreigner,” he said. “That happens with food where people get charged more for the same kilo of rice. The problems get worse as the system stops working.”
As the nation’s leading refugee agency, COMAR is the only entity able to grant refugee status and issue travel documents that allow migrants to move within the country freely. The agency’s director, Andres Ramirez, said they’re able to process up to 5,000 cases a month, less than a third of the requests that were filed in November alone.
“This year’s wave has been gigantic,” Ramirez told ABC News in Spanish. “In addition to the large quantity, some people who don’t fit the profile of a refugee as the law establishes have submitted requests because they don’t have other immigration alternatives.”
South American countries like Chile and Brazil have seen large quantities of Haitian migrants since 2010, when a devastating earthquake claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti. Those who are now fleeing Central and South American countries due to financial instability may have a harder time being granted refugee status in Mexico.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or ACNUR, as it’s known in Mexico, has been assisting the Mexican government in providing aid and temporary accommodations in three local shelters in Tapachula. Josep Herreros, a senior protection officer for UNHCR, thinks the congestion in the city can be eased by providing alternatives for people who do not qualify for refugee status, but still need support.
“People are suffering from the congestion,” Herreros told ABC News in an interview in Spanish. “This flow is what we call a mixed movement, where we have refugees who need protection and other migrants who have other needs. We think it’s important to provide alternatives to the asylum process.”
As another way of easing the congestion in Tapachula, the National Institute of Migration has been busing some migrants to other cities where they can continue their asylum process.
Buses have been departing from the Olympic Stadium but Arturo Viscarra, an attorney for CHIRLA, said those efforts have slowed to a “trickle” and thousands of people have descended upon the area. On Monday, Viscarra filmed how countless people took cover from the sun in makeshift shelters outside of the stadium.
“There’s this complete lack of response,” Viscarra said. “It’s both a result of the policies with the combination of the racism that makes it more difficult for Haitians to obtain work and housing.”
The National Institute of Migration did not respond to ABC News’ request for an interview.
Government checkpoints have been established outside of the city and throughout Mexico’s major highways, making it difficult for migrants to leave without the threat of being deported.
In recent months, groups of migrants sometimes referred to as “caravans” have formed in an effort to bypass the checkpoints and continue further into Mexico, with some hoping to reach the U.S. border, according to CHIRLA. In September, the U.S. Border Patrol was embroiled in a national controversy when images were published depicting mounted patrol agents using their horses to push back Haitian migrants as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas.
Ruben said he cried when he saw those images and felt disappointed in how the U.S. is treating Haitians. He has also grown increasingly frustrated with the asylum process in Mexico, but his dream is to settle in Mexico City and work in the tourism industry.
“I’m not trying to go to the United States; it’s not where I can have a better life,” he said. “I’m looking for a place where I can live peacefully. If I can realize my dream here in Mexico and have a good job, I’ll stay here.”
(COLORADO) — Rep. Lauren Boebert, the gun-toting Colorado Republican who is under threat of being removed from her committee assignment for Islamophobic comments targeted at fellow lawmakers, faced more backlash on Wednesday after sharing a family photo showing her four children posing with guns in front of a Christmas tree.
“The Boeberts have your six, @RepThomasMassie!” Boebert wrote on Twitter late Tuesday, in apparent solidarity with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a fellow gun enthusiast, who faced criticism for posting a similar photo last week of his family proudly holding firearms in front of their Christmas tree. Both families appeared smiling while heavily armed ahead of the holiday season.
“(No spare ammo for you, though),” Boebert added in her Dec. 7 tweet.
On the heels of Massie’s post last week but ahead of her own, Boebert offered her support to her colleague’s photo, tweeting, “That’s my kind of Christmas card!”
Boebert and Massie, appearing to share the photos of their families brandishing firearms in an apparent appeal to their bases, did so within a week of a mass shooting at a high school in Michigan that killed four students and left at least eight seriously injured. That shooting came days after the father of the 15-year-old suspect allegedly purchased him a gun as an early Christmas present.
Democrats have been quick to criticize both the photos of Boebert and Massie — with Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez mocking Boebert early Wednesday in a tweet that garnered nearly 100,000 likes and counting.
“Tell me again where Christ said “use the commemoration of my birth to flex violent weapons for personal political gain”?” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response to the photo. “lol @ all the years Republicans spent on cultural hysteria of society ‘erasing Christmas and it’s meaning’ when they’re doing that fine all on their own.”
“When you pose in front of a Christmas Tree and can name all those guns but can’t name the gifts of the Wise Men,” the New York progressive added.
When you pose in front of a Christmas Tree and can name all those guns but can’t name the gifts of the Wise Men 🥴🥴🥴
The backlash to Boebert’s photo comes as Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., plans to introduce a resolution on Wednesday to strip the Colorado Republican of her House committee assignments over her anti-Muslim remarks aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., — with the aim of forcing House Democratic leadership to punish Boebert before the end of the year. Omar said over the weekend she is confident House Speaker Nancy Pelos will take “decisive action.”
It’s far from the first time Boebert, a freshman in this Congress, has faced criticism.
The Colorado Republican who owns a gun-themed eatery called “Shooters” released a political ad earlier this year showing her walking around the Capitol, verbally attacking congressional Democrats and ending with the sound of a gunshot. She is also facing questions from Democrats over her potential ties to pro-Trump supporters that were present at the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The pro-democracy, progressive media PAC MeidasTouch tweeted late Tuesday that it would not post the “deranged” image of Boebert and her children “holding weapons of war” and instead, listed those killed last week in Michigan to “honor the teens who were murdered due to this fetishization of guns.”
We will not be posting the deranged photo of Lauren Boebert and her young children holding weapons of war.
Instead, let’s honor the teens who were murdered due to this fetishization of guns:
Hana St. Juliana, 14.
Tate Myre, 16.
Justin Shilling, 17.
Madisyn Baldwin, 17. pic.twitter.com/IdQnHXobNA
Vera Farmiga can be seen again today in the fourth episode of Hawkeye, which just dropped on Disney+. The Paranormal Activity series star had two big reasons to hop on board as the socialite Eleanor Bishop: One, to play True Grit Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld‘s mom, and also because she has a thing for bows and arrows.
“Well, number one, I love archery, just hands down,” Vera revealed to her co-stars at a recent press event. “I am an archer, you guys don’t know this about me.”
She explained, “My first job, I played an archer with Heath Ledger in a series called Roar, right? I had my bow and arrow and I had my 40-pound pull weight arrow…and I’m good at it, to be honest with you. So I wasn’t going to be wielding that bow and arrow, I just wanted to be next to someone with ‘True Grit.'”
Farmiga says of her onscreen daughter, “To be honest with you, I have marveled at this young lady since that first movie and I also loved this sort of this very delicate and complex maternal relationship with daughters.”
She adds, “It is a tricky sport raising her successful daughter, you know, especially when the daughter and the mom have different ideas of what that success means. But yeah, just happy to be by Hailee’s side for this.”
Incidentally, while we won’t spoil the surprise, the new fourth episode reveals the first appearance from a big-screen MCU break-out star.
The Smashing Pumpkins, Shinedown and Rise Against are among the new additions to the 2022 Welcome to Rockville lineup.
They join the previously announced headliners: Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, KISS and Korn.
Other artists now on the bill include Five Finger Death Punch, Halestorm, Papa Roach, The Pretty Reckless, Jane’s Addiction, Breaking Benjamin, Megadeth, In This Moment, Seether, Mammoth WVH, Bush, Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell, The Struts, Spiritbox, Dirty Honey, The Hu, Black Label Society, Down, Bad Wolves, Tetrarch, In Flames, Sevendust, Skillet, Parkway Drive and Nothing More.
Welcome to Rockville 2022 takes place May 19-22 in Daytona Beach, Florida. For the full lineup and ticket info, visit WelcometoRockville.com.
What do Rihanna, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have in common? According to Forbes, they’re some of the most powerful women in the world.
The magazine released its 18th annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list on Wednesday, which celebrates female politicians, entrepreneurs, activists and other movers and shakers from across the globe.
Rihanna is the highest-ranked among the three, at number 68, and is celebrated for her newly minted billionaire status thanks to her Savage x Fenty lingerie line and successful Fenty Beauty, which is among the fastest-growing cosmetics companies in the world.
Forbes also ranks billionaires from 1 to 10 on a self made score chart, with 1 meaning they inherited all their money and 10 reserved for those who established their wealth entirely on their own. Rihanna scored a 10.
Forbes ranks Beyoncé at number 76 and highlighted her On The Run II stadium tour, which averaged about $5 million in ticket sales per night and amassed over $250 million overall. The magazine also took note of her popular Ivy Park collaborations with Adidas, as well as her Homecoming live album and Netflix special that explored her headline-making 2018 performance at Coachella. She was given a self-made score of eight.
Taylor, who also has a self-made score of eight, is this year’s youngest honoree, landing at number 78. The outlet commended the 31-year-old’s quest to regain full ownership of her master catalogue by re-recording her old music, which earned her a 10th number-one album on the Billboard charts thanks to Red (Taylor’s Version). In addition, she was praised for her political activism and for being among the handful of artists to have an album that recently sold over a million copies, which was 2020’s folklore.
